WorldSSP – Mackenzie and Norrodin get to grips with ‘new’ track Most

The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team is back in action at the Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic, taking part in round eight of the 2023 Supersport World Championship with riders Tarran Mackenzie and Adam Norrodin.

Despite rainfall earlier in the day, the Supersport field was fortunate to be able to complete a dry first practice session in the late morning. This was particularly important for Mackenzie and Norrodin, neither of whom had ridden at the Most track before today. The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda duo used the day’s sessions to build confidence with the new layout and start to adapt their CBR600RR machines to the Czech track. Mackenzie rounded out FP1 with a best of 1’37.961 to place twenty-third, while, with a 1’38.741, Norrodin finished in thirtieth position.

Norrodin quickly found a little more in the early stages of the afternoon’s second practice, soon setting a 1’37.910. Mackenzie followed suit, the Brit going on to gradually shave valuable tenths off his best time. His fastest lap of the day, completed in 1’36.904, came in the final five minutes and was enough to place Tarran nineteenth in the day’s combined standings. Adam continued to work to make small changes to his bike setup, concluding the day in thirtieth place thanks to the time he set in the early stages of FP2.

Tarran Mackenzie P19

“Today was quite positive. P19 is not where I want to be, but definitely a stronger day one that sees is finish 1.6 seconds from the front. We have some updates for our package this weekend and the acceleration is a bit stronger as a result. It means I have more feeling with the rear of the bike, something I was lacking until now, so that’s more positive, and I felt good towards the end of FP2. Fingers crossed we can have a good qualifying tomorrow and carry this momentum into the race.”

Adam Norrodin P30

“It’s not as easy as I perhaps expected here at Most to be honest – the track is quite tricky. FP1 wasn’t too bad but we were still a little way away with the setup. We immediately improved a lot in FP2, and I found better feeling with the bike, but we were unable to find enough between the two sessions. Everyone was very tight in terms of times again, and we’re less than three seconds off, so the aim for tomorrow is to further reduce that gap and find the best possible feeling during qualifying so that we can score a good starting position. We keep on working and believing and will try again tomorrow.”

Full results *Courtesy of Worldsbk.com